Brenda Spotton Visano is a distinguished University Professor in Economics and Public Policy. Her widely published interdisciplinary scholarship advances a heterodox perspective on macroeconomics and microfinance. She routinely consults for government agencies, the not-for-profit sector, labour organizations, and First Nations organizations. Her research, teaching, and university service have been honoured with national, provincial and university level awards recognizing her contributions.
Primary Areas of Research
Financial inclusion, Financial instability, Financial precarity; Microfinance, Alternative Financial Services; Funding Models; Gender and Macroeconomics; Access to higher education
Primary Teaching Areas
Money & Banking/Monetary Economics; Research Methods; Topics in Public Policy
Current University Positions
University Professor with tenure, Department of Economics and School of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University (2008 to present)
Graduate Program Membership
Graduate Program in Public Policy, Administration and Law
Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought
Graduate Program in Sociology
Graduate Program in Economics
Academic Honours & Awards
- Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Status of Women Award of Distinction (2012)
- University Professor (honor conferred June 2010)
- Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Award for Dedicated Service (2004)
- University Wide Teaching Award (2001)
- Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Teaching Award (2000)
Selected Publications
Brzozowski, M., & Spotton Visano, B. (2023). Canadian Consumer Financial Vulnerability, Stress, and Well-Being. Canadian Public Policy, 49(2), 114-135.
Buckland, Jerry and Brenda Spotton Visano Financial Vulnerability in Canada - The Embedded Experience of Households Palgrave Macmillan. 2022.
Brzozowski, M., Spotton Visano, B. “Havin’ Money’s Not Everything, Not Havin’ It Is”: The Importance of Financial Satisfaction for Life Satisfaction in Financially Stressed Households." J Happiness Studies 21, 573–591 (2020).
Buckland, Jerry, Chris Robinson and Brenda Spotton Visano, eds. Payday Lending in Canada in a Global Context: A Mature Industry with Chronic Challenges London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
Spotton Visano, Brenda Financial Crises: Socio-economic Causes and Institutional Context London & New York: Routledge. 2006 ISBN: 0-41536-2873
Spotton Visano, Brenda “Gendering Post-Keynesian Macroeconomics with Situated Knowledge” Review of Radical Political Economics v.49 n.4 (2017): 567-573.
Spotton Visano, Brenda “Defying the Dominant Discourse: Why contesting Neoliberalism needs Critical Pedagogy in Economics Education" Critical Studies in Education
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